Apparatus for raising sunken ships



"Jari, 20,' 1925:

` J. W. RENO APPARATUSv FOR RAISING sUNKEN sHIPs Filed N ov. .25, 1919 2 Shee'ces--Sheet 2 El I o '.L-ao

Fla 3 Patented dan. 2G, i925,

To all trimm it vm 11,1/ concern.'

Be it known that l, Jnssn lV. RENO, a citizen ot the United States, residing in New York, in the county ot' New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful lmprovement in Apparatus for Raising Sunken Ships, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to an apparatus for raising sunken ships by means of shooting a number of holes in the sides ot the ship by projectiles fired from a mobile gun mounted on tractor belts on the bottom of the sea; hooking hooks in the holes, the hooks being attached to one end of chains. the other end oit the chains being secured to open bottom air tanks or cylinders adapted to receive water and be sunk, and have the water lowered there-in or expelled therefrom Aby air admitted therein, and thus to raise the ship, by buoyant torce of the cylinders.

lMy invention also involves an improved mobile gun ttor shooting the holes in the sides ot' the ship, the gun being adapted to be lowered to the bottom ot the sea, and to be supported by a tractor belt, and to be moved from one place on the bottom of the sea to another position by the tractor.

The work of forming the holes in the sides ot the ship in my method of raising sunken ships can be conveniently and rapidly done-so that any desired number of air tanks can be attached to the sunken ship, and by `heir buoyant action raise her without strain or stress upon her structure; and in this methot, ships even ot very large size. and sunk in very deep water can be conveniently raised to the surface ot the sea. There' is also a great advantage in my method ot operations. because all oft' the permanent equipment to make the holes in the sides of the ship and the air tanks needed to raise the ship will be on or near the bottom ot the sea, so that in case oit.' a storm the apparatus would be in still water. below any wave motion ot the surface of the sea; in fact. virtually all of .my apparatus is iirst lowered to the bed of the sea.

In carying out my method of raising sunken ships. I attain my objects therein by the use of the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- FiOure l is a side elevation ot m f mobiler t: n n l o l Y gun, partly in vertical cross section, in

Application lcd November 25, 1919.

serial No. 340,540.

position to discharge a shot to make a hole in the desired spot in the side of the ship.

Figure 2 is a plan View of my mobile gun, party in horizontal cross section.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a sunken ship, having a series ot Yholes in its sides formed by my method and my buoyant air cylinders submerged and hooked to the ship, and showing a wrecking ship also.

Figure 4 is an outline end-on view of a sunken ship on the bottom of the sea ibet-ween my buoyant air cylinders secured to the ship by hooks in holes made in the ship by my method.

Figure 5 is a longitudinal view in section of' one of' my buoyant "air cylinders, with piping for the conduction of air, and a hook to be hooked in a hole made in the sunken ship by my method, in .order to raise the ship.

Figure G is an outline end-onrview of a sunken ship inclined or listed on the bottom ot' the sea., with one of my buoyant air cylinders and hooks made fast to her side in a hole made by my method i-n the art oi raising sunken ships.

Similar numerals refer to similar vparts throughout the several views.

r he mobile gun apparatus l comprises a working air chamber', 2, let down from the surface of the sea by chains, 3, to the bottom of the sea. Air is supplied through a pipe, t, to the chamber, under atmospheric pressure. The chamber is made strong enough to withstand the external pressure due to the head of the water at the sea bottom and large enough to give the` necesn s'ary working space in the interior thereof tor the operators, say, for instance, two men, the dimensions being about six feet in dialneter and eight feet to the ceiling or overhead.. The chamber is mounted on a suitable frame or chassis, 5, movable by tractor belts, 6, 'adapted to be operated by a sprocket chain, 7, driven by a hand wheel, 8, located in the chamber. The shaft. on which the hand wheel, 8, and the sprocket chain, 7, are mounted is passed through the wall of the chamber in a conventional type ot stutl'- ing box, for instance, similar to those mentioned intra for the gun and rod.. There are two tractor belts and two hand wheels, -a wheel for each beltin that lplan or arrangement each belt is independently driven by a sprocket chain and hand wheel,

lli

which insures that the mobile gun apparatus can be turned around as Well as propelled v and supported in the Wall oit the chamber.

The gun may be oi aiiy'suitable Well-known type, with an approved kind of reoil mechanism, l2, or 'toi' example, I inay use a type of the order say ,oli the Ytuniiliar Davis gun, in which the recoil ot the gun is balanced'so that there is no movement ot the gun by recoil upon being lined; how-v ever, it' there is any recoil, and in order to allowv a free b'ackivard movement ot' the gun, I provide stuliing boxes, 12%, in the Walls of vthe chamber for both the muzzle and the extension portions ot the breech et' the gun. That arrangement Will insure perfeet balance against displacement of the gun by the external pressure et the Water. The importance of this plan, whereby the `gun is balanced against movement by Water pressure, Will be appreciated When it is reflector. that at a depth of four hundred 'feet ol Water, the pressure, per square inch is one hundred and Yseventy-two pounds; theretore, assuming th'at the gun will be eight nehes in diameter.v the Water pressure upon the muzzle of the gun to move the gun inwards in the chamber will be eight thousand and siX hundred pounds, i1e unbalanced. In order to prevent vthe Water from entering she bore of the gun, I provide a valve, le, hinged to the muzzle ot the gun; the hinge of the valve is provided with a spring, which will throw the valve back after the discharge ofthe projectile from the gun, and the presffsure of the Water Will thereupon keep the valve tightly closed, against the muzzle ot the gun until it is opened by the Vdischarge of'a projectile. I .purpose to use a solid steel projectile, 15, and to cause it to be projected with only sufficient energyor -torce to do the intended work ot' making` oi` 'torming a hole in the side oit the ship, and only large enough for my purpose, but leaving` the interior of the ship uninjured by the o projectile or shot. IWith the rapid-lire aiu munition .now in use a large number of eartridges can be carried or stored in a rack around the inner Wall ot the chamber so that repeated trips to the surface of the sea Jor rammunition Will not be necessary. It it be carries the hook.

bolted on the tractor 'at right angles to the tractor or to the position shown in the drawing, and the tractor be propelled on the bottom of the sea along the side or' the ship, With the gun pointed in the proper direction towards the side ot the ship and elevated to shoot holes in the side of the ship as the gun is moved along.. An indicator can be mounted on the hand Wheel to indicate the numbei' oil feet the gun has been moved alongthe side oi the ship trom a hole, so thatV the operator VWillknoizv that the gun is at the desired position, say ten feet on the example.;

given, Where the next hole is to be 'formedand so on until all the holes desired have been made, in that all of them will be spaced apart substantially the same or equal 'distances, if desired or at the distances desiredby the operator of the mobile gun. I do not limit my invention'to any particular kind ot' power or means to move the gun. I

balance the external Water pressure on the.

ends ot the rod. VThe end ot the rod next to the yside of the ship is bent to enable it theY better to engage and direct a hook, the point of which is to enter the holein the side of the ship. I have provided handles, 1,8, .fixed Vto the rod so that the operator can move the rod in and out and vturn it on its axis in the Wall of the chamber. Then the point oin the hook is suspended opposite'a hole, the rod is pushed against the hook to push Athe point of the hook in the hole. rllhe `tunetion of the rod is to enable the operator tov Vmanipulate', direct oradjustthe point ot the hookV in a hole madein the side ot the f ship by my method. In order to direct and push the pointoi ahook into a hole made for it, the operator of the rod canturn the rod on its airis, so that its projected bent end can be made to describe quite a large cirrle and reachV any point therein, and the rod A can be movedalso out and in it necessary or desirable, to reach the hook and engage or direct or push its point into a hole and hold it there untilthe air cylinder has risen high enough to make the chain taut that The hook. I9, is made tast to the end of the chain. 20, carried by the air cylinder, 2l, as will be explained later on, to lift the sunken ship. eeed to describe my fair tank and my method of attaching it to the side ot the ship, and causing it to raise the sunken ship, I em- I Will now pron ploy an open bottom ytank .or cylinder, 2].. 1&0

It is usually towed to a position vertically over the sunken ship; whereupon an air siphon, 22, is inserted in the open bottom of the tank up through the water therein (indicated by hatched lines in Figures 3 and 5) and sufficient air is siphoned out of the tank through the conduit, 23, to permit the tank to sink gradually to the sea bed adjacent to the side of the ship. The siphon is supported by a wire rope, 24;, wound on a windlass, 25, on the wrecking ship, 26, and the siphon is connected by the air conduit, 23, to an air compressor, 2T, on the wrecking ship or to some other apparatus for supplying air under pressure to the air cylinders or withdrawing air therefrom as the case may be. The wire rope, 24, and winch 25, will also assist in controlling the operation of sinking the air cylinder. Made fast to the air cylinder is a chain, 20, carrying hook, 19, on its free end, opposite the open bottom of the air cylinder. Then the cylinder, chain and hook are being sunk, the hook is supported by a small wire rope, :58, which is played out from a winch (not shown) on the wrecking ship. When the air cylinder has been let down in the sea and is resting on its open bottom on the bed of the sea, the hook on the chain is manip- :ilated by the small wire c'able 2S and the adjusting rod 17 into the proper position to hook into the hole made in the side of the ship by my method for that purpose and air is then forced into the cylinder in order to cause it to rise and lift the chain with it to its full length and hold it taut and the hook in the hole, as indicated by the relative position of the cylinders shown in the Figures and 4C. Then the cylinders by their' buoy- 'ant action have raised the sunken ship and it has been towed to shallow water, and it becomes desirable to ease the strain on the hooks, or remove them, the Siphon can be lowered so as to engage in a cylinder, to enable sufficient amount of air to be withdrawn therefrom to allow the cylinder to sink far enough to relieve the strain on the chain and free the hook, air is then forced into the cylinder, causing it to rise again to the surface. The air Siphon will also be very useful in balancing the ship when it is almost ready to be raised from off of the bottom of the sea. For example, I have indicated 'a sunken ship, in Figure 6, laying on the bottom of the sea in a listed or inclined position. In such a case the air tanks, by means of my air siphon, can all be attached along the lowermost side of the ship and only sufHcient air be admitted to lift th'at Side of the ship to cause the ship to lay on an even bottom or keel; whereupon my air tanks can be attached on both of the sides of the ship, and raise the ship from its sunken position.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. An apparatus adapted to be used under sea, comprising the combination of a tractor, adapted to move on the bottom of the sea, an air and water tight working chamber thereon, and means carried by the chamber for forming holes in the hull of a sunken vessel to attach thereto buoyant devices to raise the vessel.

2. An apparatus adapted to be used on the bottom of the sea, comprising the combination of a tractor, an air and water tight working chamber thereon, and a gun mounted in the chamber, adapted to fire a projectile to shoot a hole in the hull of a sunken vessel to attach thereto buoyant devices to raise the vessel.

An apparatus adapted to be used under sea, comprising the combination of a chamber, and a gun mounted in the chamber, the muzzle and breech of the gun projecting exterior-ly of the chamber to allow the gun to recoil against the water.

l. In an apparatus adapted to be used under the sea, comprising a working chamber, a manipulating rod mounted in the walls of the said chamber, adapted to be freely moved and slid longitudinally, its opposite ends projected exteriorly of the said walls, to balance the rod against the water pressure.

In a diving apparatus, the combination with a tractor, of a water tight shell and a tool mounted thereon, said tool being adapted to operate upon external objects.

6. A diving apparatus comprising the combination with a tractor, a water tight shell thereon, means in the shell for forming holes in the sides of a sunken ship an-d means for bringing the hole-forming means to bear on any point on the sides of the sunken ships.

7. In a diving apparatus, the combination with a tractor, a water tight shell thereon, tractor belts, operable independently` of each other, and means operable'independently of each other to operate the belts to advance and turn the tractor, whereby the hole-forming means can be brought to bear on any point along the sides of the ships.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

JESSE l/V. RENO. 

